


Deep Down

by greygerbil



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 20:16:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10578714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greygerbil/pseuds/greygerbil
Summary: In the kyber caves under the temple of the Guardians of the Whills, Baze, who has just recently come to Jedha, makes a new friend.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Onthecyberseas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onthecyberseas/gifts).



The kyber caves of Jedha were massive, a labyrinth of softly glowing blue stone growing out of grey granite that surrounded you on all sides. The monks had built wooden walkways across it and the footsteps of the Elder and the initiates following him rang hollow against the walls. Baze couldn’t stop looking, craning his neck until his toes caught on the gaps between the planks and he stumbled, catching himself only to do it again a second later. The monastery he had been transferred from just last week, half a galaxy away, had had its own piece of kyber to protect, but it had only been a chunk, red like the sunset and eaten away at with pickaxes in times immemorial, before the Guardians had come to protect it.

The noise of the other initiates talking in hushes voiced filled the air as the Elder intonated his sermon. Baze stood back a little. Having grown up to nine years old on that small planet, where there were only tiny trading outposts and farms, Jedha still confused him, but his teachers had said that a diligent student and believer like him should be getting the best possible education and that it could only be the will of the Force for him to go to the Guardian’s main seat on Jedha. If that was how the Force wanted it, Jedha would be home eventually, Baze told himself.

However, he’d been in the other monastery for longer than he could remember and, though a quiet boy, he’d had his friends there, children he’d first met before any of them knew how to make sentences out of the few words they could babble. Here, he didn’t know anyone. Also, where he’d only ever seen the occasional non-human on the space ship landing bay at the market before, there were enough different species in the Jedha monastery to make his head spin to even remember what they were called. The initiates all knew each other already, too, had lived together like siblings. How would he even start talking to them?

So he hung back, rubbing his arms because the air in the cave was so cold it made the hairs on his skin stand. Above him was a big kyber formation looking a little like a face that distracted him and, walking slowly forward to follow the Elder, he didn’t notice the other boy standing a bit off from the group until he bumped into him.

“Sorry,” Baze said, quietly.

The boy was a scrawny human kid with scraped knees and scratched hands. When he turned his head, Baze saw that he had eyes the same colour of the precious stone surrounding them. He had to be blind.

“It’s okay,” he answered. There was a slight accent in his words. He smiled. His mouth was an uneven mess of new teeth half-grown and small teeth not yet fallen out. “I didn’t see you, either.”

Baze chuckled and didn’t know if he should have. He hadn’t wanted to make fun of him or anything.

“I don’t know your voice,” the other boy continued, whispering.

“I’m new. Baze from Awaran.”

“I’ve never heard of that place.”

“It’s very far away. Another planet. But I was an initiate there, too.”

Baze knew he should be listening to the Elder, but in three days, this was the first time he’d really spoken to any of the other kids. He didn’t know what else to say, though.

“I’m Chirrut. Do you like it here?” the boy asked.

“Yes, uhm. I like the library. It’s very big, though. All of it, the temple and the city.”

Baze wondered if that made him sound stupid. Chirrut frowned a little. 

“I think I know what you mean. Before I came here, I used to live on a farm out in the desert. It was different. So silent at night.”

“Yes,” Baze said, relieved someone understood.

Chirrut turned to him. He was holding a simple wooden stick in his hand that Baze was sure was actually a weapon, not meant for walking. It didn’t even have a handle.

“I could show you the best spot in the caves, since you’re new here. We have to sneak off, though.”

Baze kind of wanted to because the sermon really was very boring. Usually he liked listening to Elders speaking of the Force, but this For’rah had a voice that could put you to sleep. Still, he couldn’t get away with too much yet, having just arrived.

“Won’t we get in trouble?”

“With Elder For’rah? Not a lot. Don’t worry.” Chirrut put his hand on the wall. “Is anyone looking our way?”

Baze surveyed the twenty-some other kids and the Elder, who was pointing out something down another wooden walkway.

“No,” he whispered.

“Okay, come!”

Chirrut hopped off onto the ground and, hesitating briefly, Baze followed. It felt a little sacrilegious to be walking on the grey stone mixed with kyber pieces, but he wanted to see what Chirrut was talking about.

Chirrut had to know the spot well, for he was sure-footed as he led the way, his fingers brushing along the walls as he pushed deeper into the maze. Soon, they were around a corner and out of view. There were no electrical lanterns here and Baze had to put his hand on the wall as well.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“It’s a place where the kyber really feels alive.”

Baze thought these kyber caves under the temple were already way more impressive than anything he had ever known before – it felt like he was surrounded by a giant sleeping creature –, so now he was curious.

Suddenly, there was a noise in the dark. Baze stopped. Had someone followed them? But as he turned around, he saw only a pair of green eyes blinking in the small glimmer of light that still came from the tunnel behind them.

“What was that?” Chirrut asked.

“I don’t know, there’s some – animal, I think.”

Kneeling down with his heart in his throat, Baze picked up one of the loose stones on the ground, a piece of the grey rock that the kyber was growing out of. Next to him, he saw Chirrut turn around his staff, holding it with two hands.

The scraping of paws on the ground came closer and Baze heard another breath next to theirs. His nerves snapped and he chucked the stone, which hit the ground with a clatter, right next to the animal.

The creature screeched and its eyes vanished as the sounds of paws retreated. A stone at least as big as the one he’d thrown at the creature fell from Baze’s heart.

“It’s gone,” he told Chirrut.

“How big was it?”

“I don’t know. It didn’t look that big close,” he admitted. He’d seen it scuttle by during its flight and it hadn’t even reached up to his hip.

“Probably a karpa. They live down here. They’ll only go for you if you have food in your pockets, though.” Chirrut tugged at Baze’s sleeve. “Come, it’s only a short way further in.”

Relieved that Chirrut didn’t think him foolish, Baze followed Chirrut. Around the next corner, he could see light again, but it looked whiter and brighter than the lamps that had surrounded the walkways. Then, finally, behind the bend in the winding tunnel, a round room opened in front of them.

The walls, the floor and ceilings were made of solid kyber here. You could almost hear it sing, feel its tickle of energy on your skin like the fuzz of electricity on woollen cloth. However, he was most taken aback by the light that fell in through the cracks in the kyber ceiling above them, making the kyber glitter like there was water captured in the stones.

“It’s so beautiful,” he said.

“Is it? I’ve never seen it. I went blind before I came here,” Chirrut said. “It’s just the place that feels best to me. What does it look like?”

“There’s sunlight. It makes the kyber shine. Can you feel it?”

After hesitating briefly, Baze dared to reach out and take Chirrut’s elbow to pull him where the sunlight would touch his face.

“I felt the draft, but I never thought of what it must look like,” Chirrut said, after a moment. He turned his face a bit, looking directly up into the sun. “I usually come here at night. It’s easier to slip out then.”

They stood in silence for a long moment and Baze said a prayer in his mind. Next to him, Chirrut was very still, holding his stick like he was at a vigil, illuminated by the beam of sunlight. His content smile reminded Baze of the furry little creatures he’d always seen lounging in the sun on the flat stones at the beach on his homeworld.

When Chirrut told him they should probably leave soon, Baze had to tear himself from his silent reverie.

“Can we come back?” he asked. He didn’t think he’d remember the way himself and besides, he had liked spending this moment with Chirrut.

“Sure. I know the best ways out of the dormitory,” Chirrut said with a grin. “I’ll show you.”

When they returned the way they came, Baze could already hear hasty footsteps. On the walkway was Elder For’rah with two Acolytes.

“There! There’s Chirrut,” one of them said. “And the new one, too.”

Elder For’rah, who was much further down the path, hurried towards them with his stick in hand.

“Chirrut, Baze! We have been looking for you.”

The stern tone made Baze swallow, but Chirrut next to him didn’t look worried at all.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault,” Chirrut said, without missing a beat. “I got lost in thought and took a wrong turn. Baze noticed I was gone. He went looking for me.”

“I see.” Elder For’rah sighed. “Well, it’s nice of you to care about your fellow initiates, but you should really alert me before running off, Baze.”

“I apologise, Elder,” Baze said.

The matter seemed done with that, for Elder For’rah just waved at them to follow. One of the acolytes grinned, looking at them from the corners of her eyes. Baze had a feeling that she didn’t really believe them, but if it was true, she didn’t say anything. Next to him, Chirrut smiled at him and took his hand as he followed along the wooden path, a step ahead of him again, and Baze thought that this day had gone way better than he’d expected.

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was: "Baze and Chirrut meeting as kids and becoming friends instantly."


End file.
